Through the lifetime of this blog, I’ve discussed police malpractice, or just plain bad police work. But no case has truly filled me with more rage in regards to bad police work than the mysterious death of Jessica Renee Johnson.
In the spring of 2017, Jessica was a vivacious 37-year-old single mother who lived in Horn Lake, Mississippi. She had a 19-year-old son, and an 8-year-old daughter who were her entire world. Though she’d struggled with addiction, Jessica was on a positive path in her life. She worked hard for her kids, and also worked hard for herself.
She lived with her parents, David and Linda, who often helped her with the kids. No matter where she was, or what she was doing, her kids always came first.
Jessica was also known for being extremely well put-together. She prided herself on always being dressed well, with her hair done, and her makeup always on point. Next to her kids, her appearance was of the utmost importance to her.
When Jessica began dating a man named Garland Hart, her friends and family grew concerned. Hart had a reputation around the community for selling drugs, and being rather rough on the women in his life. As a recovering addict, Jessica’s friends and family weren’t entirely sure that Garland was a good match for her.
But Jessica was smitten. She believed she could help Garland with his own addiction. She often told her friends that she believed he needed her, and that she could “save him”.
On June 1st, 2017, Jessica called her daughter and let her know that she’d be home later in the evening than normal. Her daughter relayed his information to her parents, who hadn’t seen her since the day before due to conflicting schedules. Jessica then went about her day, and picked up her friend Katie from work.
Katie had lent Jessica her car. Jessica had told her that Hart could fix it for her for a cost of $300, which Katie agreed with. However, when Jessica picked her up, the car wasn’t fixed, but the money was missing. Annoyed, Katie grumbled about it, but also noticed that something was odd with Jessica.
Jessica seemed frazzled, which was completely unlike her. Katie also noticed that Jessica appeared to have been crying. When pressed, Jessica told Katie that Hart was at his friend Jesse’s home, but had been in the company of other women.
Hart was often known to stay with Jesse, as his own address was always in flux due to his lack of financial stability. When wanted to spend time with Hart, she would often pack an overnight bag and stay at the home with the two men.
Katie was upset on Jessica’s behalf, and offered to go with her to Jesse’s home in order to pick up her belongings. When they got there, Jessica became noticeably erratic, and close to inconsolable. Fed up with the drama, Katie told Jessica that she was leaving, and taking her car. Jessica would have to deal with Hart on her own.
At around 6:00 PM on June 1st, Katie left in her car and watched as Jessica continued to argue with Hart and Jesse. This was the last time Jessica was reportedly seen alive by anyone other than Hart and Jesse.
The following day, on June 2nd, Linda and David grew increasingly concerned. Jessica hadn’t returned home, and she wasn’t answering her calls, or her texts. This was completely unlike Jessica, who was attached to her phone near constantly.
Linda was certain that whatever trouble Jessica had found herself in, it would be the fault of Garland Hart.
Jessica had told her mother, more than once, that if anything happened to her, she should “find him”, the “him” being Hart. He was known for being violent, and had a warrant for domestic assault-bodily harm from a case that had not association with Jessica.
With Jessica being unreachable, Linda just knew that her boyfriend was responsible.
Later that morning, Linda received a call from a coroner informing her that Jessica had been found deceased. Linda was informed that Jessica had taken her own life.
Between 9:30 and 10:30 AM on June 2nd, a mail carrier found Jessica’s body next to a mailbox which was located in front of Jesse’s house. Jessica was found on her knees, her neck tied to the mailbox post with a shoelace which had been tied in a figure-8 pattern. The shoelace had been tied over Jessica’s hair, seemingly having not come into contact with her skin at all. Her purse was found open between her knees, with one hand on her purse, and the other limp beside her.
Jessica’s family confirmed that she had not been wearing her own clothes, not was her hair done, nor was she wearing any makeup at all. This was entirely unusual for Jessica, who needed to be dressed, have her hair done, and her makeup done in order to feel ready and comfortable leaving the house.
Despite Jessica’s past struggles with addiction, and her current struggles with her boyfriend, at no point did her friends or family ever believe that she would have taken her own life. She had taken steps towards stability, and she was too involved with her children to do so.
No one involved in the “investigation” agreed. Jessica had committed suicide. As far as they were concerned, that was the end of the story. But they still had to do their “due diligence”, even at the most minimal level.
Police had discovered Jessica’s shoes at the scene. The shoes were missing their laces, and had evidence of blood spatters on them. It was explained that the evening before she was found, Jessica had been walking around Jesse’s house with her shoelaces in her hands, threatening her own life.
The shoes were never tested for anything.
Jessica’s death certificate noted the cause of death as suicide by asphyxiation. No autopsy was performed, according to the DeSoto County Coroner’s office. However, it was later found that a partial autopsy must have been done, because the report indicated that Jessica had methamphetamine and Xanax in her system at the time of her death. The doses would not have been enough to warrant an overdose.
The report also noted Jessica’s time of death as being around 3:30 AM on June 2nd. Her son also noted that he’d received a text message from his mother’s phone at around this time, indicating she was either alive at the reported time of death, or someone else used her phone to send the text. There is no known information on what was said in the text.
By this point, the police believed fully that Jessica had taken her own life. However, they did followup on tips, and took minimal investigative measures.
They noticed that Jesse’s home had security cameras, with one camera pointing directly at the mailbox. Despite this, police never asked for the footage, and the footage was never volunteered. At the time of this writing, it is assumed that the security camera footage has been deleted, though it is ultimately unclear as to what happened to it.
Jesse and Hart were both questioned about Jessica’s death. However, neither were named as suspects. They took the men at face value when they told police that Jessica appeared emotional and erratic the night of the first. They told police that she had gotten into a fight with Hart, and she wanted them to leave the house. When Hart wouldn’t leave with her, she decided to stay, but was removed from the home when her behaviour became more and more “lovesick” and “dramatic” – words Jesse used to describe Jessica.
Jessica’s family believed that Jesse and Hart were hiding something. They also refused to believe the coroner’s report. They believed that the police didn’t want the mess of an official investigation on their plate, especially knowing that the dealing of drugs could possibly be involved. In their opinion, the police wanted to wash their hands of the entire matter and pretend it never happened.
They decided to hire their own forensic scientist to examine the case from a different perspective.
Dr. Maurice Godwin requested all of the pertinent files on the case, and soon realized that the shoelaces found around Jessica’s neck had never been turned over to the family, nor had they been tested by police. Furthermore, when a request for the shoelaces was made, it was found that the shoelaces were missing entirely.
The Horn Lake Police Department had “lost” evidence.
Dr. Godwin also took a look at the available crime scene photos. In his opinion, the entire scene appeared to have been staged. He was of the opinion that had she taken her own life, her hand would have stayed resting on her purse. He also noted that the clasp on her purse was broken, as though it had been involved in a struggle, something the police had failed to notice.
He also believed that she would likely have been found leaning forward. However, she was found leaning back – as if she was looking up at someone.
Next, Dr. Godwin had wanted to do an autopsy on Jessica’s body – but this was impossible. Through their shock and grief, Jessica’s family had decided to have her body cremated due to financial constraints preventing them from requesting a full autopsy. The clothes Jessica was wearing – which her family indicated didn’t belong to her – were also cremated with her.
However, he discovered that a partial autopsy had been done, and further discovered the drugs in her system. The coroner’s report also had photos which were examined.
In the photos, it appeared as though one of Jessica’s arms had an imprint on it. The imprint looked like a bruise caused by a shoe print, as if someone had stepped on her arm. There were also abrasions on her arm that looked like holes, which were unexplained. Blood was also found under her fingernails, which was, of course not tested.
Dr. Godwin was of the opinion that Jessica’s death was not a suicide, and would have warranted further investigation by law enforcement.
Adding insult to injury, Jessica’s family remain unable to gain access to her iPhone to this day.
Shortly before the phone was given back to her family, Hart had changed the passcode, and refused to tell anyone what the new code was. Apple was also unwilling to assist in the family being able to gain access. As law enforcement had closed the case, the family were unable to ask for a warrant to have the phone remotely unlocked by Apple.
Linda believes that any evidence in regards to Jessica’s death could be found on her iPhone, and in witness testimony.
Jesse and Garland Hart both maintain their innocence.
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Sources:
How Did Jessica Johnson Die? Who Killed Her? – Shraman Mitra – The Cinemaholic
Jessica Renee Johnson – Chilling Crimes
Investigators Say Jessica Johnson Took Her Own Life, But Her Family Thinks There’s More To The Story – Patrick Thornton – Ranker
Murder or Suicide? The Baffling Case of Jessica Renee Johnson – Jonathan Harker – Talk Murder To Me
Murder or Suicide : Jessica Renee Johnson – Mariya Hamilton – Crimes and Consequences
Morbid podcast – Episode 92 – The Mysterious Death of Jessica Renee Johnson